Carpenter resumes his canoe journey

Goal is to paddle Lake Superior shore a few hundred miles at a time.

Goal is to paddle Lake Superior shore a few hundred miles at a time.

June 13, 2006

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) -- An Upper Peninsula carpenter is returning to the water in his canoe for another summer as part of his quest to circumnavigate Lake Superior in stretches of a few hundred miles. Steve Wingard is using a 17-foot, 66-year-old red canvas and wood canoe with handmade paddles and a sail to help harness the wind. "There's people who do the whole lake in one season," he told the Mining Journal. "That's not the speed I want to travel. I want to see it, stop, spend a couple days here and there, really look it over." The Marquette man's journey started in 2003, when he paddled about 325 miles from Duluth, Minn., where he formerly lived, to Big Bay. Last year he traveled from Big Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., going about 200 miles. This year, Wingard plans to paddle from the Apostle Islands in northwestern Wisconsin to Duluth, Minn., about 50 miles, then head up to the Canadian border along the Minnesota shoreline and back. He estimates the trip will take 40 to 50 days. "I've got butterflies in my belly over it," he said of the trip. "The Minnesota shoreline, there's lots of cliffs and lots of rocks. I've got a wood canvas canoe, it's not plastic. I'm a little bit nervous about it." Wingard plans to take along a hand-held tape recorder, which he has done on previous journeys, to document his travels. Wingard's path up and down the Minnesota shore will be the last stretch he has to travel on the U.S. side of the lake. The Canadian shore stretches about 550 miles, and Wingard is considering doing it all in one trip.